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that he did for Ifrael. But, out of fight out of mind. It is then added And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Ifrael-And they forfook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other Gods, of the Gods of the people that were round about them. And in this state they continued throughout the whole administration of their JuDGES; except, when, from time to time, they were awakened into repentance by the severity of GOD'S judgments; which yet were no fooner pafs'd, than they fell back again into their old lethargy, a forgetfulness of his mercies.

Nor did their fondness for Egypt at all abate when they came under the iron rod of their KINGS the Magiftrate they had fo rebelliously demanded; and who, as they pretended, was to fet all things right. On the contrary, this folly grew still more inflamed; andinstead of one CALF they would have TWO. Which Ezekiel hints at, where he says, Yet she MULTIPLIED her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth wherein she bad played the barlot in Egypt". And fo favourite a fuperftition were the CALVES OF Dan and Beth-el, that they still kept their ground against all those general Reformations which divers of their better fort of Kings had made, to purge the land of Ifrael from idolatries. It is true, their extreme fondness for Egyptian fuperftition was not the only cause of this inveterate adherence to their CALVES. There were two others:

They flattered themselves that this specific idolatry was not altogether so grofs an affront to the

* JUDGES ii. 7. 1 JUDGESii. 10-12, - EZEK. xxiii. 19. GOD

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God of their fathers as many of the rest. Other of their idolatries consisted in worshiping Strange Gods in conjunction with the God of Ifrael; this of the CALVES, only in worshiping the God of Ifrael in an idolatrous manner: as appears from the history of their erection. And Jeroboam" said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do facrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerufalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam King of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam King of Judah. Whereupon the King took counsel, and made two CALVES of gold, - and faid unto them, It is too much for you to go up to ferusalem, Behold thy Gods, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he Set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan°. It is too much for you (fays he) to go up to Jerusa lem. Who were the men disposed to go up? None furely but the worshipers of the God of Ifrael. Consequently the CALVES, here offered to save them a journey, must needs be given as the reprefentatives of that God, And if these were so, then certainly the CALF in Horeb: since, at their several confecrations, the very fame proclamation was made of all three: Behold thy GODS, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

The other cause of the perpetual adherence of the Kingdom of Ifrael to their GOLDEN CALVES was their being erected for a prevention of reunion with the Kingdom of Judah. If this people (says

It is to be observed of this Jeroboam, that he had fojourned in Egypt, as a refugee, during the latter part of the reign of Solomon, 1 KINGS Xi. 40.

I KINGS xii, 26. & feq.

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the politic contriver) go up to do facrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Reboboam king of Judah. The succeeding kings, therefore, we may be sure, were as careful in preserving them, as He was in putting them up. So that, good or bad, the character common to them all was, that he departed not from the fins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Ifrael to fin; namely in worshiping the Calves in Dan and Beth-el. And those of them who appeared most zealous for the Law of God, and utterly exterminated the idolatry of Baal, yet connived at least, at this political worship of the CALVES.-Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Ifrael. Howbeit from the fins of Feroboam the Son of Nebat who made Ifrael to fin, Jehu departed not, to wit, the golden CALVES that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan P.

But the Ifraelites had now contracted all the fashionable habits of Egypt. We are affured that it has been long peculiar to the Egyptian superstition for every city of that empire to have its own tutelary God, befides those which were worshiped in common: But now Jeremiah tells us the people of Judah bore a part with them in this extravagance: Where are thy Gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arife, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: FOR ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THY CITIES, ARE THY GODS, O JUDAH 9.

And by the time that the fins of this wretched People were ripe for the punishment of their approaching Captivity, they had polluted themselves with all kind of Egyptian abominations: as appears

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P 2 KINGS X. 28, & Jeq.

from the famous VISIONS OF EZEKIEL, where their three capital idolatries are so graphically described. The Prophet represents himself as brought, in a vision, to Jerufalem: and, at the door of the inner gate that looked towards the north, he saw the feat of the IMAGE OF JEALOUSY whichprovoketh to jealousy. Here, by the noblest stretch of an inspired imagination, he calls this feat of their idolatries, the feat of the Image of Jealousy, whom he perfonifies, and the more to catch the attention of this corrupt people, converts into an Idol, THE IMAGE OF JEALOUSY which provoketh to jealousy, as if he had faid, God, in his wrath, hath given you one idol more, to avenge himself of all the rest. After this fublime prelude, the prophet proceeds to the various scenery of the inspired Vision.

WALL.

I. The first of their capital idolatries is described in this manner: And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold a HOLE IN THE Then faid be unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a DOOR. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw, and behold EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS, AND ABOMINABLE BEASTS, and all the idols of the house of Ifrael POURTRAYED UPON THE WALL ROUND ABOUT. And there stood before • them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Ifrael, and in the midst of them stood Faazaniab the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said be unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Ifrael do IN THE DARK, every man in the CHAMBERS OF HIS IMAGERY?.

* EZEK. viii. 3.

• EzEK, viii. 6, & feq.

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1. The

1. The first inference I draw from these words is, That the Superstition here described was EGYPTIAN. This appears from its objects being the Gods peculiar to Egypt: every form of creeping things and abominable beasts; which, in another place, the fame prophet calls, with great propriety and elegance, the abominations of the eyes of the Ifraelites'.

2. The second inference is, That they contain a very lively and circumstantial description of the fo celebrated MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS. For 1. The rites are represented as performed in a secret fubterraneous place. And when I looked, behold a HOLE in the wall; Then said be unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a DOOR. And he said unto me, Go inHast thou seen what the Ancients of the house of Ifrael do in the DARK? This fecret place was, as the Prophet tells us, in the Temple. And such kind of places, for this use, the Egyptians had in their Temples, as we learn from a fimilitude of Plutarch's: Like the disposition (fays he) and ordonance of their Temples, which, in one place, enlarge and extend themselves into long wings, and fair and open isles; in another, fink into dark and fecret fubterranean Veftries, like the Adyta of the Thebans ": which Tacitus describes in these words atque alibi anguftiæ, et profunda altitudo, nullis inquirentium spaciis pene

* EZEK. XX. 7, 8. This shews brute-worship in Egypt to have been vastly extensive at the Exodus; the time the prophet is here speaking of.

«Ὡς – ατε τῶν Ναῶν διαθέσεις, πῆ μὲν ἀνειμένων εἰς αλερὰ καὶ δρόμες ὑπαιθρίες κὶ καθαρὲς, ωῆ δὲ κρυπλὰ κὶ σκότια καλὰ γῆς χόντων σολισήρια Θηβαίοις ἐοικότα κὶ σηκοῖς.

Περὶ Ισ. κὶ Οσ. p. 639..

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